


Warmth in Winter

by thelittlestbird



Series: Stronger than Ice [2]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 16:01:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3416834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelittlestbird/pseuds/thelittlestbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arya takes refuge in a wolf dream, and both she and Nymeria remember.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warmth in Winter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chavalah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chavalah/gifts).



The direwolf stalks through the Riverlands at the head of her pack as the night begins to wane.

The humans’ war is dying down, but there are still bandits to chase, prey to stalk, deaths to avenge.

Names to cross off a list, although the wolf doesn’t think of it that way.

She is restless tonight. Hungry.

The scent of deer floats on the chill wind, catching in the big wolf’s nostrils. She is tempted, but knows that this is not the kind of hunger that can be eased by hunting or feeding. She’s tried before. It only makes it better for a little while.

She howls in pain at the holes where her sister and brother used to be. Lost now, lost forever. Her mother, too – even though the wolf’s mother was lost years ago, she feels the loss of a mother all over again. 

Some things, wolves forget. But not everything. Not love. 

The rest of the pack gathers around her, nosing at her side and nudging their warmth into her. They know that her howls come from grief, and they can’t fully understand it – it is another way that she is different from them, beyond her size – but they still want to soothe it.

There in the middle of the pack, the direwolf feels warmer. Her restless howls and whines grow softer with every passing minute, fading into barks and yips, and then into gentle rumbling gratitude.

When they are all quiet and all warm, then they run.

The direwolf senses the wind running through her fur. Hears the thump of dozens of feet on hard ground. Feels free.

As dawn starts to brighten the sky, the pack stops to drink at the edge of a frozen pond. Winter is coming – is already here, perhaps – but a little patch of early sun has melted through the ice with its warmth. For now, the sun is still stronger than the ice. 

Ice shatters, and the pack drinks together.

They run for miles, then fall into a heap, exhausted and happy, satisfied and together. The direwolf huddles under the blanket of fur and feels warm in the company of her pack.

* * *

For the first time in weeks, Arya wakes up feeling warm.

She’s all alone now, but she doesn’t feel lonely; she feels free. Far away, she can smell the ocean, and she knows that her journey is nearly at an end. As soon as she gets to the sea, she’s going to get on a boat to sail north to Jon.

She’s going to see her family.


End file.
